Zuko and His Kids
by Daisydaisyflower
Summary: This is going to be a collection of one shots about Zuko and his kids (Izumi and OC son) because I’m a sucker for adorable Zuko parenting moments. My knowledge of LOK is limited, so aside from Zuko’s daughter’s name, it may or may not be compliant.
1. Zuko’sSongetsinTrouble

11 year Nolan had just gotten home from school. He was walking through the courtyard of the palace, heading towards the living quarters section of the palace when one of the guards approached him.

"Prince Nolan, your father wants to talk to you. It's about a notice he received from your school. He is in the throne room."

"Ok."

Nolan knew what this was probably about. He had gotten in some trouble at school the other day and the teacher said that she would be contacting his parents.

Nolan turned and headed towards the section of the palace in which business was conducted. He entered his father's throne room "You wanted to talk to me," he said as he hopped up on to the throne platform, sitting down next to his father.

Zuko turned to face him. He was glad that, even being in trouble, his son still felt safe sitting so close to him. He was also glad that there was nothing formal about their relationship. He was glad that his son felt so welcome to hop up on the throne platform, rather than stay on the floor below, and could do so without bowing when he approached. Of course his son didn't know the difference. Zuko made sure of that. His children were never made to bow or kneel before him. They were never made to sit on the floor while Zuko himself, sat up on his throne. They were never made to address him in any formal way.

"I got a letter from your school today. It says you were throwing a ball inside the building and it ended up breaking a window. The school is asking for payment for the damages. What were you thinking throwing a ball inside?"

"Well I didn't think it was going to go through the window! I was just tossing it to my friend." He didn't mention that he was tossing it from the other side of the room.

"Even if it didn't go through the window, it could have hit and broke something else." Zuko pointed out.

"I know." Nolan sighed.

"Look I will pay for the damages, but you're going to have to work to make up for it. I'm not going to let you off home free. For the next few days when you get home from school you'll come straight here. You're going to be my assistant. And when you're not helping me, you can work on your homework."

"Don't you already have assistants to help you with stuff?"

"Yes, but for the next few days you'll be my assistant."

"Ok." Nolan said, knowing he is not getting out of this situation.

"Now firsrt thing, I need you to address this envelop to the treasure and then go stick it in the mailbox. I need to set up a meeting with him."

Nolan took the envelope and grabbed a pen out of his back pack to adress it with. After taking it to the mail box and coming back into the throne room, his dad then had him deliver a message to the royal carriage driver about a ride for tomorow. After that he headed back to the throne room again.

"Ok. He said the carriage will be waiting for you tomorow at 11:00."

"Thank you. Now massage my shoulders."

"What!?" Nolan exclaimed.

"You heard me. My shoulders hurt massage them."

"Are you serious?"

"Very serious."

"Ughhhh." Nolan groaned as he sat down behind his dad, proceededing to massage his shoulders. Though on the way, Zuko gently rubbed his hand across his son's hair, purposefully messing it up.

After a bit of massaging his father, Nolan grew tired of it and so he stopped. He wrapped his arms around his father, resting his chin on his father's shoulders.

Zuko felt his son's small arms (well small compared to his) wrapping around his body. He took this as a sign that Nolan had grown tired of massaging him and Zuko supposed he had annoyed his son enough for the time being. Zuko turned slightly to face Nolan.

"Come here," he said softly, pulling his son around so that he was directly by his side, underneath his arm.

"I love you." Zuko said

"I love you to Dad." Nolan replied, resting his head on his dad's chest.

At that moment, a man came in barring a tray of snacks.

"Here you go Fire Lord Zuko," the man said, placing the tray in front of Zuko, and then exiting the room.

"You hungry?" Zuko asked Nolan, who nodded. "Here help yourself," he said, pulling the tray closer to him and his son.

Nolan began picking fruit, cheese slices, and crackers off the tray, mindlessly getting crumbs everywhere, including on Zuko's robes. Zuko looked down at him, thinking about how much he did love his son and about how Nolan is only two years younger than he was when he was banished. He couldn't imagine banishing him, especially at such a young age. Leaving him no home to go to, no parents to turn to for help, and how much it would break his heart-not being able to talk to his dad anymore. He wouldn't want to do that to him. He wouldn't do that to him.

Nolan caught his dad looking at him. "What?" He asked, looking up at him.

"Nothing," Zuko replied. "You're getting crumbs on my robes."

"Oh. Sorry," he said.

"It's ok." Zuko smiled at him, brushing the crumbs off his robes.


	2. MiddleoftheNight

Izumi was standing at her parents' bed side. Her mom was currently out of town with some friends, so she would have to wake up her dad for this, not that he would mind her waking him up. She had woken him up numerous times as a child for thing such as nightmares, being afraid there is a monster under the bed, once or twice because of a spider. He never complained about any of it. But the thing is that she sort of got into a fight with him before going to bed tonigh and he yelled at her to go to her room. In which she in turn yelled at him that he was a horrible father, and she had yelled so loud that probably even the guards down the hall, outside the doors of the family living quarters had heard it. Her dad still wouldn't mind being woken up, even when angry he still loved her. She knew that. It was just going to be a bit awkward waking him up for help after all of that. Actually it was going to make the situation extra akward, as the subject at hand as to why she was waking him up, was going to be awkward enough to tell him as it is.

She nudged her dad's arm, "Dad?" "Dad?"

Zuko startled awake, turing to look at whoever had just awoken him. "Mmh? Izumi!?" He said surprised, it had been at least two years since she had woken him or his wife up on the middle of the night for anything. "What is it?"

"I umm...I got my period."

"What?" He now sounded even more suprised than when she had woken him up.

"I got my period. And I um, don't have any pads or anything."

Zuko stared, still taking in the information for a moment. Never in his life did he think he would be the one to have to deal with this situation. He had ASSUMED it would be his wife that would handle this. But just his luck, she it happened while she was out of town.

"Dad?" Izumi said when her father didn't respond right away.

"Yeah, here," he said trying to compose himself, "I think your mom has some pads in the bathroom." Getting out of bed he lead Izumi to his and his wife's bathroom. Izumi was glad that so far he hadn't brought up the fight from earlier.

Once they were in the bathroom he opened up one of the cabinets and pulled out a pad from inside. "Here you go." He said, handing Izumi a pad.

"Thanks. I um, need to go change my underwear before putting this on."

"Right." Zuko said realizing that made sense, though he had no experience with these things. He watched Izumi as she walked out of his room and back to her own.

When Izumi got back to her room, she grabbed a pair of underwear out of her dresser and headed into her bathroom to change. While in there, she wondered if she should head back to her dad's room aftewards or just go to bed. That question was answered when she walked back into her room to find her dad sitting in one of her chairs.

"Hey, you alright?" Zuko asked

"Yeah I'm fine." She replied, feeling a little sheepish and guilty considering that she had called him a horrible father earlier and now here he was making sure she was ok.

"Come here," he said, opening his arms out for a hug.

She happlily obliged, walking into his embrace. He tightened his arms around her and she sat down on his lap. She might be a little old for lap sitting at 12, but it felt comforting to be so wrapped in his embrace.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier, for calling you a horrible father."

"Apology accepted." Zuko said squeezing her tighter.

"Hey dad."

"Yes princess?" He use to call her that all the time when she was little. He sometimes still does.

"My stomach kind of hurts." She said pulling out of their hug.

"It's probably cramps. That can be nornal when you have your period. Pain relief medication can help. Do you have any or do you need me to go find some?"

"I think I have some in my bathroom." Izumi got up and headed to into her bathroom. A few moments later she came out with two pills. "I need to go get some water."

"I will get it." Zuko told her, at which he got up and exited the room. Izumi went to sit on her bed.

As he walked down the hall and out of the living quarters to head towards the kitchen, one of the guards who was standing at the enterance to the living quarters hall spoke to him.

"Can't sleep your majesty?"

"No it's Izumi. She woke me up because she...needed something." Zuko wasn't really sure Izumi would want it broadcasted to the guards that she just got her period. It had to be akward enough for her, having to tell her dad about it, Zuko thought.

"I heard the two of you fighting earlier. I have to say Sir, if she thinks you're such a terrible father maybe you should show her what a terrible father actually looks like."

Zuko felt anger rising inside of him. He tried to remain calm though, "She doesn't actually think that, she just said it because she was upset."

"Doesn't make it right. Maybe she needs to learn a lesson."

"How!? By having her father, who is suppose to love and protect her, none the less the only parent here at the moment treat her horribly so that she can't go to them for help? By making her feel uncomfortable around me, if not unsafe? Kids her age say things all the time. I said plenty of things to my uncle when I was older than she is. If it starts to get out if hand I will address it with her, but how I do that, how I discipline my kids, is my decison and my buisness, not yours."

The guard fell silent for a moment, before replying, "My apologies your majesty."

Zuko didn't respond. Rather he simply turned and walked into the kitchen. He couldn't believe what the guard said. And it bothered him that a member of his staff thought that way. It bothered him that anyone thought that way. Frankly he took it as a compliment that Izumi felt safe enough with him to argue with him, to talk back, to say what she said to him. He would have never spoken to his father that way, let alone feel safe enough to wake him up in the middle of the night after doing so. Regardless of what Izumi mouthed off, him being a horrible father, is not a punishment she would have to worry about.

He grabbed a cup out of a cabinet and filled it with water. He said nothing to the guard when passing him on the way back. When he got to Izumi's room he found her laying in her bed.

"Here you go," he handed her the glass of water. She took it, swallowing the pills, and placing the cup on her night stand.

"Thank you."

"Of course." Zuko said, kissing her forehead. "Do you need anything else?"

"No."

"Ok. Do you have any questions about it...your period? If you do you can ask me. I know I'm a guy but I still know some stuff about it." This was a very akward conversation for Zuko, but he wanted Izumi to know that she could talk to him about it if she needed to.

"No Dad. I know what my period is."

"Ok." He half laughed.

As she settled into the covers, Zuko tucked them in around her body, kissing her forehead. "Well if you need anything else or you do need to talk about it you can come get me."

"Ok."

"Goodnight. I love you." Zuko said, turning to walk out of the room.

"Love you." She whispered after him.

Zuko quietly closed the door to her room, smiling. Even if it was awkward, he was glad he was able to be there for her during this milestone in her life. And no amount of her talking back or yelling at him out of anger would have stopped him from being there for her the first night of her period.


	3. Cookies

Zuko walked into the kitchen. It was late, but he wanted a snack. Turns out he wasn't the only one in the house who was hungry though, as when we entered the kitchen he was suprised to find Nolan sitting at the table, eating a cookie.

"What are you doing up this late? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Zuko asked.

"I was hungry."

"So you're eating a cookie?"

"No. I ate a sandwhich, and now I'm eating a cookie."

Zuko paused, taking closer note of the cookie in Nolan's hand. "Wait a minute, is that one of my cookies!?" Zuko asked.

"Maybe, technically there was no name on them," Nolan said as he proceeded to eat the cookie.

"But you knew those were my cookies that I specifically ordered when the servants went to the market place."

"Yeah. I also know that you love me," Nolan said with a mischievous smile.

"I also love my cookies." Zuko went over to the cabinet where the cookies had been stored, thinking he would have one for himself. Wait where are they?" He asked, upon noticing that the cookies were not where he left them.

Nolan looked at the remainder of the cookie in his hand, "This was the last one."

"Last one? You ate all of them?"

"No. You had some! And technically Izumi had two."

"I only had three!"

"Oh. Sorry. I thought you had more."

"Unbelieveable," Zuko said sarcastically, while turning to search the cabinet for a different snack.

-

A few days later Nolan walked into the kitchen and in the cabinet there was a new bag of cookies with a note on it reading;

_Dear Nolan,_

_Do not touch my cookies. I'm serious. You better listen to me. _

_Sincerley,_

_The Fire Lord _

Nolan grabbed the note and headed down the hall to his parent's room "Oh yeah! Real threatening, Dad!" He exclaimed, waving the note in the air, upon coming to the entrance way of his parent's room.

"I thought it was," Zuko chuckled.

"Well if you excuse me, _Fire Lord, _I think I'm going to go have a cookie," Nolan said, turning to walk out of the room.

"Oh no you're not!" Zuko jumped up after him and Nolan began running down the hall. He bursted into the kitchen, his dad a few steps behing him, Nolan grabbed a cookie out of the bag that he left on the counter. Zuko immideatly wraped his arms around him from behind.

"Give me that cookie!" Zuko said as he reached around Nolan trying to grab the cookie.

"Dad! Dad!"

Zuko grabbed the cookie, while still keeping his arms around Nolan, he reached the hand with the cookie in it up to his mouth, taking a bite out of the cookie. "Ok here you go," he said giving the cookie back to Nolan.

"Dad." Nolan groaned.

"Hey they're my cookies."

"Do you really not want me having any?" Nolan asked.

Zuko tilted Nolan's chin up, bending Nolan's head backwards towards him so that their eyes met "No, I just like messing with you. Of course you can have some. Just don't eat them all this time ok bud?"

"Ok." Nolan responded.


	4. SpeakingoutofTurn

Izumi and Nolan were sitting in a meeting with their father and various Fire Nation represenatives. Zuko had been going around the table, calling on each person to speak so that everyone had the chance to offer their input. This was the established decorum for the meeting. Izumi however, had just interrupted Zuko, who was responding to one of the buisness representatives. Upon her interrupting, the represenative decided to address Izumi regarding the matter.

"Princess Izumi, I would think you wouldn't be disrespectful, speaking out of turn by interrupting your father, the Fire Lord like that. Especially not after what his father did to him after he spoke out of turn when he was about your age. Or would you also liked to be challenged to an Agni Kai for lack of respect?"

Izumi paused, "Wh-whatare you talking about?" She asked, confused. She looked over to her dad whose face looked frozen, or like a dear caught in the headlights.

The representative also froze for a moment, appearing to be having second thoughts about what he just said. He looked to Zuko, who at the least, did not look happy.

Zuko interviened, "My scar, Izumi, he is talking about my scar." Zuko said with frusturatuon and a hint of anger in his voice. Though she wasn't sure if the anger was at her or the represenative or both.

"What?" Izumi asked quietly and in shock. Her dad had never told her the story of how he got his scar. She asked when she was little, and he said that he would tell her when she was older. He also said that it wasn't pleasant story and he didn't want to talk about it.

"Alright let's take a short recess, if everyone would please leave the room, except my daughter."

"Dad, can I stay too?" Nolan asked quickly, from Zuko's left, as everyone else began getting up to leave.

"Oh, yes of course. Actually you probably should stay here, so I can explain this to you too."

As everyone else exited the room, Izumi sat frozen where she had been sitting at her father's right hand side. Once everyone had cleared the room, Zuko got off the throne and went to stand in front of her. He was standing on the ground, in comparison to Izumi who was sitting on the platform still. This made them a bit more at eye level. Nolan came over to the right side of the platform and sat down, letting his legs dangle off the edge. He sat slightly off centered from his dad, so as to not block Izumi from view.

"Dad what is he talking about? Is Ozai burning you in an Agni Kai how you got your scar?" Izumi asked

Zuko sighed "Yes it is. My father, Ozai, wasn't a good person. You both already know that," Zuko said, looking from Izumi to Nolan. "And do you remember the story of my banishment, of me speaking out against the military plan, and how my father challenged me to Agni Kai and I refused to fight him?"

"Yeah," Izumi responded. Nolan nodded his head.

"Well the full story is that, when I spoke out against the military plan, I also spoke out of turn. My father got very angry about this, as it was disrespectful and when he challenged me to fight in the Agni Kai, I thought I was going to fight the general whom I had spoken out against. But, since it was my my father's meeting, it was him that I had disrespected, therefore it was him who I was going to have to fight. I didn't know this until the day of the Agni Kai though, and not until I was about to fight and turned to face my oppotent. When I turned around and saw my father, that's when I refused to fight him. I pleaded with him for forgivness, but he didn't accept my apology. He burned my face and then banished me for refusing to fight, claiming that my refusing to fight was shameful."

"Whoah," Nolan said. "I thought it was bad enough that he bansihed you for refusing to fight him but that's how you got your scar too? And I thought he challenged you to Agni Kai because he was unhappy that you spoke out against the military plan and he didn't like people disagreeing with him or was power hungry or whatever, not because you spoke out of turn."

"Well it was likely because of both, Nolan, but yes, the reason he gave was because I spoke out of turn or rather because I "disrespected" him. Like I said, my father wasn't a good person."

"So do I have to fight you because I spoke out of turn?" Izumi asked from where she was sitting.

"No. Absolutley not. What my father did was wrong. I'm not challenging my little girl to an Agni Kai match because she intterupted me. And I would never harm you to teach you a lesson. I wouldn't do that to either of you." Zuko said, shifting his eyes from Izumi to Nolan. "Come here he said," looking back to Izumi and holding his arms out to hug her. Izumi got up from where she was, hopping off of the platform and onto the ground where her father was standing. She wrapped her arms around his torso in a hug and he enclosed his arms tightly around her.

"I love you, Izumi."

"I love you to. I'm sorry I intrerupted you."

"It's alright. But you don't ever have to worry about me hurting you, ok?" Zuko said. "You could have started yelling at me and I wouldn't have challenged you to Agni Kai. Not that you should do that. I'm just saying that you don't have to worry about me doing to you what my father did to me." Zuko looked over to where his son was, "Same goes for you. I wouldn't hurt you either, Nolan. Come here," he said gently, motioning for Nolan to join the hug. Once Nolan had hopped down off the platform, Zuko wrapped his arms around both his children.

"I love you both very much." He kissed the top of each of their heads.

"You're a good dad," Nolan said, looking up at his father. "I didn't realize how blessed I was to have a dad like you. I'm sorry for any trouble I've caused you in my life."

"Oh, Nolan," Zuko sighed, "Thank you, but regardless of the trouble you've caused, you're a great son. There are kids who cause their parents much more trouble than you have ever caused me. That's true for you to, missy," he said, looking down at Izumi. "You're a great daughter. If you intterrupting me is the worst I have to deal with, then I've got it pretty easy. However, we do need to talk about that real quick." Zuko said, pulling out of the hug. Izumi and Nolan both hopped up on to the throne platform, sitting in front of Zuko, who was still standing.

"When somone, weather it be me or someone else, sets up an established decorum for a meeting, to not follow that decorum is disrespectful towards them, as it indicates that your don't respect them, their wishes, or their authority. As well, decorum is a way to maintain order at a meeting. If decorum isn't followed or if people interrupt each other constantly, then the risk is ran of chaos ensuing or of things not getting done that need to be. That's why I set up decorum the way I did for the begining of the meeting, to make sure everyone had the chance to state their oppinion. And that's why throughout meetings, you need to wait your turn to be called upon."

"I didn't think of it that way, of following decorum or not interrupting being important to maintaining order at a meeting. And I didn't mean you any disrespect. I'm sorry." Izumi said.

"It's ok," Zuko replied. "Now we do need to get back to the meeting but we can talk about this more later if you want, ok?"

"Ok."

Later on, after the meeting, Zuko walked into the living room to find Izumi sitting on one of the couches. He had just turned in for the evening, Izumi had been home (or rather back in the living quarters of the palace) for a while.

"Hey, Dad" Izumi said to Zuko as he walked in.

"Hey Sweetie," he replied cheerfully.

"Can I talk to you?" Izumi asked.

"Of course." Zuko replied, approaching his daughter.

Izumi stood up and hugged him. "Thank you," she said, "for being a great dad."

"Izumi," he sighed quietly hugging her back, "you're welcome. No father should do to their children what my dad did to me."

"It's not just that," Izumi said, pulling slightly out of the hug her and her father were in. "There are dads who hit their kids. The dad of a girl in one of my classes got arrested last week for beating her and her mom. And I know a boy whose dad makes him kneel on uncooked rice when he gets in trouble."

"Izumi," Zuko pulled his daughter back into a hug, sqeezung her tightly, "I would never do those things to you or your brother. Besides, I'm more intrested in teaching you when possible, than I am punishing you."

Izumi smiled and looked up at her dad, "I think you've done a pretty good job at that." She then rested her head on his chest. "I just got scared when that represenative said that Ozai gave you that scar in an Agni Kai match, after talking out of turn. I got worried that maybe an Agni Kai challenge was just the punishment for speaking out of turn or being disrespectful towards the Fire Lord during meetings."

"It's not, at least not any more. And even if it was, in matters where you're concerned, I'm your father first."

Izumi looked back up at Zuko and then squeezed him tightly. Zuko reciprocated.

"I don't want you to be scared of me, Izumi. That's why I didn't tell you about my scar when you were younger. I didn't want you to be scared that I might do something like that to you. That's why I didn't tell you about my banishment until you were a bit older either."

"I'm not scared of you, Dad. I mean in the meeting I got scared that I may have to fight you in Agni Kai, but that went away after you talked to Nolan and I."

"Good. Because no matter what you do, I'm not going to challenge you to Agni Kai and I'm not going to burn your face to teach you a lesson."

Izumi stood still for a moment, and then pulled slightly out of their hug and leaned up, planting a kiss on her father's scar.

Zuko starred at his daughter for a moment, and then grabbed her face and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you to."

"Come on. It's probably almost time for dinner." Zuko said, motioning towards the kitchen. He began to walk out of the living room and Izumi followed.


	5. FireBendingSparring

Zuko was sitting in the front yard of the palace, waiting for Izumi and Nolan to get home. The 14 year old twins were currently at their fire bending lessons, taking their final test of the to see if they have mastered fire bending. While he was waiting, his mind driffted to memories of them fire bending when they were younger...

"Dad will you spar with me?"

Zuko had been walking down the hallway. He stopped and turned around to find his 10 year old son starring at him. "What?" Zuko asked.

"Will you spar with me? You know, with fire bending. In my lessons we are starting to learn how to fight and defend ourselves using fire bending, and are starting to spar, so I was wondering if you would practice with me?"

"Oh, I don't know buddy..." Zuko was quite hesitant to spar with Nolan. The idea of shooting fire at his son, even if it was only for sparring practice, didn't settle well with him.

"It might be better to save sparring for lessons, where you have an instructor who has experience sparring safely and helping make sure others do."

"But kids spar with each other all the time outside of fire bending lessons. I would spar with Izumi, but she is a level below me and hasn't started learning how to how to use firebending for fighting and defense yet."

Zuko sighed. "I'm just not comfortable sparring with you bud."

"How come?"

"I'm just not. I don't want to...feel like I'm trying to hurt you, nor do I want to end up accidentally hurting you. You're my son, I'm your father. I'm suppose to protect you."

"Dad, it's sparring. It's not like you're actually trying to hurt the other person. And even if I get a little burned, I will be fine. It's rare that anyone gets seriously injured during fire bending sparring."

Zuko knew that what Nolan was saying was true, and it was going to be hard to argue. He couls also see that Nolan really wanted to spar, and he didn't want to disappoint his son, but he still wasn't comfortable with the idea. "Maybe when you're a little older or have had a bit more experience." He told Nolan.

"Ok." Nolan replied, defeated.

Zuko starred at his son for a moment, he hated seeing him disappointed and tried to think of a way to cheer him up, when an idea came to him. "Hey, do you want to practice your sword skills at all?" Zuko had recently started showing Nolan how to use swords, using fake practice swords of course.

"Sure." Nolan said, sounding at least a little happier now.

Zuko reached his hand out and ruffled his son's hair "Alright I will go grab the practice swords and meet you out in the backyard." Zuko told him.

"Ok." Nolan replied, ducking away from his dad's hand so that he would have to stop messing with his hair.

It wasn't until Nolan was 11, the topic of fire bending sparing came up again.

"Hey, how was your day?" Zuko asked, standing in his son's bedroom door way. He had heard Nolan come home from fire bending lessons and thought he would go check to see how his day was. Zuko would often check up on kids like this, asking how their day was and such to make sure everything was going well in their lives and to support them if it wasn't. He wanted to make sure his kids knew that they weren't alone, that he was there for them if they needed him.

"It was fine, but..." Nolan hesitated

"But what?" Zuko asked in a caring matter, approaching his son.

Nolan sighed, looking at his father who was now standing in front of him. "Some of the other kids in my class were talking about sparring with their parents and things their parents have taught them when sparring, and I just had to sit there and listen because you don't spar with me. And grant it, I wasn't the only one who couldn't particupate in the conversation, there are kids whose parents aren't benders so they can't spar with them at all. But I don't understand why you won't spar with me. I mean I know you said you're uncomfortable with it, but plenty of other kids' parents do it."

Zuko looked at his son. He hated seeing him upset. He hated more to be the cause of that upsetness. And he certainly didn't want to deprive Nolan of some childhood or father son experience that other kids have.

"This is really important to you isn't it?" Zuko asked.

"Yeah." Nolan replied. "It's just that I don't really have anyone else to spar with. Izumi only just now moved up to this level of fire bending and Aki and Hideo (those were Nolan's two closest friends) aren't benders. Also you're a great fire bender and my dad, I want to learn from you."

Zuko looked at his son "Ok," Zuko sighed, "then I will spar with you."

"Really!?" Nolan said excitedly.

"Yes. I don't want to deprive you of some experience that other kids get with their parents, plus I want you to be able to hi practice."

"Thank you, Dad," Nolan said launching foward, giving Zuko a hug.

Zuko reciprocated the hug. "I'm free the rest of the afternoon, if you want to spar now."

"Ok!" Nolan said.

"Alright, let me go get changed."

When Zuko got done changing, he came back to find Izumi in Nolan's room with him, as while Zuko was changing, Nolan had gone to tell her that their dad was actually going to spar with him.

"Nolan said that you are going to let him spar with you. Can I watch?" Izumi asked

"Sure, why not? " Zuko said, rolling his eyes slightly at how excited both his kids were for this.

Outside, in the fire bending practice area, Zuko and Nolan warmed up and began sparring. Zuko of course took it easy on Nolan, and he let Nolan win one or two rounds, however Zuko still won most of them, including the last one.

Hi

Nolan tripped and fell backwards onto the ground. Zuko stood over his son and held out a hand to help him up.

"I win." Zuko said.

Nolan huffed and took his dad's hand. Zuko pulled him off the ground. Zuko then quickly pulled Nolan in close to his torso, wrapping one arm around him, and giving him a nuggie with his free hand. "Yeah I win! I got you!" Zuko exclaimed.

"Dad! Dad!"

Zuko wasn't letting go, instead he pulled his son even closer to him.

"Izumi help me!" Nolan shouted.

Izumi ran over and jumped on her dad's back. Zuko held Nolan hostage in one arm and use his free arm to reach around and pull Izumi around to his front side. He then trapped the the two of them in his arms.

"You're both mine now!" He exclaimed. Nolan and Izumi were both laughing by this point. Zuko held them close and kissed the top of their heads. He loved both of his children very much.

"Dad will you spar with me too?" Izumi asked.

"Sure, but not right now. I'm worn out. How about tomorow?"

"Ok." Izumi replied

Zuko let go of his kids and looked at Nolan. "You did a good job today, remember the pointers I gave you though."

"Ok. Thanks, Dad."

"Sure thing."

Zuko was glad that he had agreed to spar with Nolan. He liked helping his son and enjoyed seeing him happy. Even though the thought of shooting fire at his son made him uneasy at first, he didn't want to deprive his son of practice or of fond memories with his dad. And once he saw his son's trusting and smiling face in front of him ready to spar, he thought about how he would never hurt his son the way his own farther had him and he realized that no matter what it felt like or what memories it brought up, he wasn't actually trying to hurt his son and never would.

At that moment, Nolan and Izumi got home from their test. Upon seeing their Dad in the garden, they walked over to him.

"I passed, Dad." Nolan said.

"Great job! I'm so happy for you." Zuko said, hugging his teenage son, who though he felt himself too old for hugs, didn't protest his dad's affection.

He turned to Izumi.

"I didn't pass..."

"Izumi, I'm sorry. Come here." He gave his daughter a hug. Izumi had always struggled a bit with learning fire bending. She had caughten up to Nolan pretty well in the last year. They were at the same level in lessons, but she still strugled at was at the lower end of her class. He beant down a little bit to meet her at eye level, "You and I will keep practicing ok?" Izumi, Zuko figured out years ago when she was little, benefitted much from one on one help in fire bending.

"Yeah and I can help you practice too." Nolan added.

"Ok, thanks" Izumi said, with a small smile.

-

The following weekend, a party was held for Nolan to celebrate his completion of fire bending lessons. Izumi was sitting on her bed in her dress for the party, when her mom and dad walked in.

"Hey, it's almost time for your brother's party to start. You ready?" Her mom asked.

"Yep." Izumi said, getting off her bed and walking over to her parents.

"Hey," Zuko put his hands on her shoulders "when you pass the final level of fire bending lessons, we will hold a party just like this for you too. I just wanted you to know that."

"I know, Dad."

"Good." Zuko responded with a smile and the three of them headed to ball room for the party.


	6. Izumi’sFireBending

"I didn't pass again."

Izumi was standing in front of the throne. She had just gotten home from taking her final fire bending test, for the second time. Zuko immideatley got up from the throne, and went over to his daughter.

"Come here," he said, as he wrapped her into a tight hug. "Hey you'll pass eventually, ok?"

"I know." She said, as she leaned into her father's embrace, tilting her head up slightly to look at him, her chin resting on his chest. "It's not just about passing though. I really want to become a good fire bender."

"I know you do. We will keep practicing." Zuko told her.

"Ok." Izumi said, pulling out of the hug. "Also Master Oshu said that he wants to meet with you regarding my fire bending progress."

"Mmmhh. Alright why don't you see if he is available to meet with me tomorow at around 6?"

"Ok." Izumi stood and hesitated for a moment. "And Dad?"

"Mmh?"

"Thanks for practicing fire bending with me and for all the things you've been teaching me in regards to it."

"Izumi," Zuko said lovingly, "You're welcome. But also, you're my daughter. I love helping you with your fire bending." Izumi smiled at Zuko.

"Now, I have a conference in a few minutes. I will see you tonight at dinner." Zuko told her.

"Ok. See ya." Izumi headed out of the throne room.

The next night, Zuko got in late from work. He slowly opened the door to Izumi's room to see if she was still awake. Her room was dark and she was in her bed.

"Dad?" She said sleepily, lifting her head up slightly and turning towards him.

"Hey," he said softly, approaching her bed and sitting down on the edge of it. Izumi scooted over to give him some room.

"I talked to Master Oshu and I think that, as long as you're ok with it, I'm going to pull you from your lessons and be the one to teach you fire bending from now on."

Izumi shifted to face her dad more. "What?" She asked confused. "What happened?"

"Well...he suggested that I send you to a Military type school, one that has a fire bending course, because the training in those schools is more intense and rigorous than normal lessons. He thinks maybe that's what you need to succeed in fire bending. He said that you might even become a particularly skilled bender if you had that kind of instruction. I of course refused. Then he went on about how useful that type of instruction is and how he tries to make his instruction as much like that of military school as possible, how some kids just need a hard push to bring out their bending talent. So, I told him that he is not to employ those methods with my daughter, in which he said that he employs those methods with all his students. So I told him that then maybe you shouldn't learn from him..." Zuko began to rub the back of his neck.

"What did he say?" Izumi asked, her eyes growing wide with interest.

"Well, he said that I'm free to pull you from lessons whenever I like...So as I was saying, I would like to be your fire bending instructor from now on. I mean I can find you a new instructor if you like. There are other fire bending dojos out there, but I think I can help you with your fire bending. There are some... things I know that a lot of instructors out there aren't well versed on. I'd like to at least try to teach you."

"I'd love for you to be my fire bending instructor, Dad." Izum said reassuringly, and barley letting Zuko finish his sentence. "And to be honest I've never paticularly liked Master Oshu since he started as my instructor a year ago. He has always been a bit harsh. There was this one time that Nolan was trying to help me with a form and Master Oshu wouldn't let him."

"What? You never told me about that."

"I guess I just didn't see the need to. The incident didn't seem like that big of a deal on its own. I just didn't like it."

"And you have every right not to like it. He shouldn't have stopped Nolan from helping you."

"I know." After Izumi responded, she shifted to her side, as to get ready to fall asleep. Zuko moved in closer to her, putting one hand on her back.

"You go to sleep." He said, begining to rub her back. "I will have Mr.Oshu notified that you will no longer be attending lessons with him. You go ahead and meet me in the outdoor fire bending rink at 5:00, before dinner, and we will start our lessons then."

"Ok, Dad." Izumi said, as she began to shut her eyes and move her body in closer to where he was sitting.

Zuko continued rubbing her back for a minute. He stared down at his princess. She had always had everything she needed in life and most of what she wanted. Some might say she was spoiled. But at the least, her wants and needs were always taken into consideration. There was no way he was sending her off to some military school where that wouldn't be the case.

Izumi's breathing evened out and she appeared to have fallen asleep. Zuko slowly and silently got off the bed. He would have given her a goodnight kiss, however he didn't want to wake her up. Instead he made his way out of her room, quietly closing the door behind him.


	7. TheParty

"Nolan?"

It was about 1:00 in the morning. Zuko entered Nolan's bedroom where he had sent Nolan a few minutes ago, after some city guards had brought Nolan home from a party they broke up. A party that Zuko told Nolan he wasn't allowed to go to.

Zuko looked around the room and didn't see Nolan.

"In here." He heard his son's voice call from the bathroom.

When Zuko entered the bathroom, he saw Nolan kneeling over the toliet.

"I don't feel so good..." Nolan said, begining to throw up almost immideatly after.

"Nolan! Did you drink?" Zuko half scolded as he began to undo his son's top bun, gathering his long hair into a pony tail, which he held back as Nolan vomitted.

"No, but I think the punch I had might have been spiked..."

"Nolan! You gotta be careful at parties like this, it's not uncommon for the drink being served to be spiked. This is an example of why I didn't want you going to that party."

"I'm sorry," Nolan barely got out the words, as he threw up again.

"Yeah well, we will talk about that later..." Zuko said some what akwardly, after his son threw up, for the second time. "How much punch did you have?" He asked.

"Well, I was pretty thirsty..."

"Nolan the alcohol was probably dehydrating you."

"Mhmh." Nolan responded.

"Here," Zuko sat down on the ledge of the tub and began using his free hand to rub Nolan's back. The other hand was still holding Nolan's ponytail.

Nolan threw up one more time, and then after several minutes of no vomit, Zuko stood up from the tub.

"Are you able to stand?" He asked Nolan.

"I think so." Nolan reached up and gripped the sink with one of his hands, as he began to stand. On his other side, Zuko had outstretched his hand as an offer to help his son up, which Nolan accepted, grabbing him with his free hand.

Zuko helped his son over to the front of the sink.

"Here, why don't you rinse out your mouth and get into your PJ's. I will be right back."

"Ok." Nolan answered. Zuko left the bathroom.

When Nolan was done rinsing out his mouth , he went into his walk in closet and changed into his PJ's. When he came out he found Zuko placing a small trash can beside his bed.

"Here, this is in case you get naucious again." Zuko explained, as Nolan headed over to the bed.

Zuko reached around to Nolan's night table and grabbed a cup of water, which he had placed their for his son moments before.

"Also drink this." Zuko said, handing Nolan the cup, "you need to stay hydrated." Nolan drank the glass of water.

"Can you get me some more?" He asked, somewhat sheepishly. He was pretty sure he was still in trouble for disobeying his dad and sneaking out to the party, so he wasn't sure he was really in the position to be asking for favors at the moment.

"Sure." Zuko said with a smile. He left the room and returned with a full cup of water. Nolan drank a bit of it and placed it on his night stand. He then began to crawl into bed. Zuko pulled the covers over him and sat on the bed.

"You feeling any better?" Zuko asked

"A little bit."

"Good. You're still in trouble, you know?"

"Yeahhh I know."

"I still love you though."

"I know that too, Dad," Nolan said, looking up at Zuko. "Thank you."

"For what?" Zuko asked, lovingly.

"For everything I guess. For being a good dad."

"Don't mention it." Zuko responded, placing his hand on his son's back and slightly. He paused for a few moments.

"You're going to spend next weekend helping the servants with their chores." He said to Nolan.

"Ok." Nolan wasn't happy about it, but he knew he hadn't listened to his dad. Plus, some of his friends would have probably gotten a much harsher punishment than what his dad just gave him, a two week grounding or something, rather than two days.

Zuko looked down at his son, whose hair was still pulled back into a pony tail. Nolan looked a lot like he did when he was younger, of course with one striking differnce...

"Now I'm going to head back to bed. You get some rest. And come get your mom or I if you need anything."

Zuko stood up from the bed "I love you."

"I love you to."


	8. TimeOut

"What happened to you?"

Zuko was sitting in the living room, and Nolan had just enteted, his clothed partially wet and covered in grass stains.

"Well, I defintley didn't get into a wrestling match with Tavi." Nolan responded. Tavi was one of his best friends who had been over to hang out.

"Riight." Zuko said. "And how exactly did your clothes get wet from your _not _wrestling match with Tavi?"

"Well it turned out the grass had just been watered a little while ago."

"Niice. Well, why don't you go take off your clothes and shower before dinner."

"But I don't need to shower!"

"Nolan you haven't showered in two days and now you're all dirty from rolling in the grass. Go shower."

"Fine." Nolan groaned and headed down the hallway.

Zuko shook his head and remembered a time when Nolan was younger and also didn't want to shower...

"Izumi! Nolan! Both of you get over here now!"

That was the voice of Zuko's wife. Zuko had just turned in for the night, only to walk into the living room to find her shouting at the two crying toddlers that were running around the living room, evidentally trying to get away from her.

"They're refusing to take a bath." His wife said to him, sounding out of energy.

"Hey!" Zuko's voice resignated through the room, addressing his children. "Didn't I tell both of you earlier that you need to listen to your mom?" He did. In fact his wife had brought them into the throne room earlier, specifically to inform him that they had been misbehaving. His kids now stood frozen in the living room after hearing him shout. Nolan had popped his head up from behind the couch, where he must have gone go hide from his bath.

"Do you think running away from your mom and not listening makes things easy for her when she is trying to take care of you and give you a bath?"

"No." Nolan responded.

"But we don't want a bath!" Izumi exclaimed

"Well that may be, but you both need one, Izumi."

"No we don't!" Nolan said

"Yeah you do. Come here." Zuko began walking towards his son.

"I don't want a bath!!!" Nolan began to scream and sat down to the floor in protest.

"I think maybe they need a time out." Zuko's wife said, looking at their children.

"No!" Izumi and Nolan screamed, and went running down the hallway.

"That's it!" Zuko went running after them. He caught up to both of them and pulled them up into his arms. He carried them into the kitchen and sat them down in a chair. Luckily, since they were only three years old, they both fit in the same chair, allowing him to crouch behind the chair and wrap one of his arms around both of his children to keep them there, since they were both trying to escape.

"You're both in time out for three minutes!" _Three minutes? That's an appropiate amount of time for toddlers right? _Zuko thought to himself, not wanting to keep them there too long, but also now wanting to let them off too easy.

Zuko continued holding the struggling toddlers in place with his arm, being careful not to squeeze too tightly, so as not to hurt them. He looked at his two children, though they were misbehaving, they were adorable and he loved them dearly.

"You're not going to be able to escape." Zuko said, matter of factly, to his daughter. His son had given up trying to resist a few moments before.

"Mmhh!" Izumi sighed loudly, relaxing her body and falling into the chair, though with a noticeable pout on her face.

Zuko let up on his arm's grip, but kept it loosely around them until the three minutes were up. He was glad they had calmed down, other wise he may have had to keep them their longer.

"Now are you both going to coporate for your bath?" Zuko asked them when the three minutes were up.

"Yes." They both said

"Ok. Come on." Zuko stood up, releasing his arm and allowing the toddlers to move from the chair. He walked them into the bedroom where his wife was.

"How about I give Nolan a bath and you give Izumi one?" Zuko asked her.

"That would be good." She replied

"Alright Nolan, looks like you're coming with me." Zuko said, picking up his son. Upon being picked up, Nolan embraced his dad by wrapping his arms around Zuko's neck.

Zuko's wife came over to the entrance way where he was standing.

"Thank you." She whispered and planted a kiss on his cheeck.

"Sure thing." He replied.

Izumi was staring up at her parents attentivley, watching their interaction.

"Alright, let's go take a bath." Izumi's mom gently grabbed Izumi's hand, walking her down the hallway to her own bathroom.

Zuko headed down the hallway after them, still holding Nolan, who unlike 15 minutes ago, was somehow now calm and coroperative. He kissed the top of his son's head.

"I love you, Nolan."

"I love you to, Dad."


	9. LateNight

It was late. Zuko and Izumi were both sitting at Zuko's desk in his office, finishing up work on the National Budget for the upcoming month. The curtains behind them were closed, but it was clear that it was dark outside. Izumi, who was growing tired, scooted her chair closer to her dad and placed her head on his shoulder.

Zuko glanced down at her "Don't worry, we're almost done." He said. "You can still leave any time you like though," He added gently.

He had actually told her about an half hour ago that she could leave if she like. After all, she didn't _need _to be there. The reason she was there was to learn about the National Budget. And while he loved having her at work with him, he could certainly manage the budget without her, so he wasn't going to force her, his 15 year old daughter to stay up late into the night with him while he completed it.

"No. I said want to stay until it's finished."

"Okay." Zuko accepted her answer.

Zuko looked down at Izumi resting her head on him. It was informal for the setting, but he didn't mind. He was happy to provide his shoulder as a pillow for his daughter. She knew nothing of formalities around him and he intended to keep it that way.

When the budget was done, Zuko stood up from his desk.

"Alright, I'm going to put a copy of this in an envelope to send to the treasuer tomorrow. Why don't you head to the kitchen for dinner and I will be there in a few minutes."

"Ok." Izumi got up at headed to the kitchen, where the dinner her dad had earlier instructed the cooks to save for them would be waiting.

Zuko arrived to the kitchen a few minutes after Izumi. When he entered. he found Izumi standing over a plate of food that evidentally had fallen on the floor.

"I'm sorry. I was grabbing some spices and accidentally knocked one of the plates off the counter. There is only one left now." Izumi motioned to the remaining plate on the counter.

Zuko sighed. "It's ok. It was an accident. That one is yours." He pointed to the plate remaining on the counter. "I will make myself something else to eat. Let's get this cleaned up first though," he stated, referencing the mess on the floor.

Izumi nodded and turned to grab some towels, out of one of the drawers behind her. She tossed one to Zuko and they knelt down to the floor, wiping up the mess that was splattered on the tile and running down the cabinets below the counter.

"Here," he said when they were finished. "I will go put these towels in the wash room," Zuko gathered the towels and exited the kitchen.

When he returned, Izumi was at the table eating her dinner. She looked up at him.

"I'm sorry."

He walked over to her, gently taking her chin between his thumb and fore finger.

"You already apologized." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Letting go of Izumi's chin, he headed through the set of doors on the opposite side of the kitchen, which lead to the cooking area. He put a small pot of rice on for himself and began cutting up vegetables.

A few minutes later, Izumi walked in and placed her dish in the sink. She then walked over to where Zuko was standing at the stove, frying vegetables.

"Can I have a few?"

Zuko turned to Izumi, "Hold on, let me get this straight," he said in a joking matter. "You knock my dinner on the floor, and now when I'm making myself a new dinner, you ask if you can have some of my vegetables, even though you already had dinner."

Izumi put an exaggerated smile on her face, "So can I have some?"

"Sure. Can you get us some bowls?"

"Yeah." Izumi walked across the room to the cabinet where the bowls were and pulled two bowls out of the cabinet.

When she returned, Zuko poured his rice and vegetables into one bowl, and then put some vegetables into a bowl for Izumi. They each grabbed their bowls and headed into the dinind area, where they sat at the table.

When Izumi was done with her vegetables and had put her bowl in the sink, she walked back over to Zuko, who was still at the table eating.

"I'm going to head to bed," she said, leaning down to hug him. Zuko wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you," he said.

"Love you to." She responded, before pulling out of the hug and leaving the kitchen.


	10. NolanFireBendsInside

"Nolan!" Zuko exclaimed.

Zuko ranover to where his shirt was laying on the ground, his shirt which Nolan had just accidentaly set on fire during their fire bending spar. Zuko extinguished the flames with a wave of his hands, and picked up his shirt, or rather what was left of it.

"Sorry." Nolan said, with a classic "oops!" Expression on his face.

"It's fine." Zuko threw the destroyed shirt back onto the ground and turned to face his teenage son.

"Think fast!" Zuko shot a fire ball at Nolan, purpoesfully missing by several feet.

"Hey!" Nolan shouted at the suddenness of the restart of their bending match. Nolan started towards Zuko who ran away, as they shot friendly flames towards each other.

The incident with the shirt reminded Zuko of a time when Nolan was younger and accidentally set some stuff on fire...

"Help!" Five year old Nolan screamed from inside Zuko's office, where Zuko had left him a few minutes before.

Zuko at that moment, had been walking down the hallway, heading back towards his office, when he heard Nolan's scream.

Zuko momentarily made eye contact with the guards at the entrance and then quickly ran past them, bursting through the doors of his office. Nolan! What's wrong?" Zuko exclaimed.

Nolan was standing beside Zuko's desk, tears flowing down his face. "My arm got burned!!!" he cried loudly.

"How?" Zuko asked, hurrying to his son's side and kneeling down to get close to

him in order to examine the burned arm. Zuko had barely got to look at it for more than a moment though when Nolan responded.

"I started firebending and it got burned. The papers on your desk caught fire to."

"What!?"

Zuko turned towards his desk and saw that the papers he had been working on for the last hour were burned.

"Daddy it hurts!"

Zuko quickly turned back to Nolan, who was still crying. The issue of the burned papers would have to wait, taking care of his son was more important.

"Ok, come on," Zuko said, picking up Nolan. He ran him down the hall to the bathroom, placing him on the sink counter. Nolan's arm was deifntley burned, but it didn't look too bad, medically speaking. Zuko turned on the sink.

"Here, place your arm under the faucet. The cold water will help."

Nolan, who was still crying placed his arm under the running water. Zuko placed his own hand in the sink as well, helping guide the water onto the burned area of Nolan's arm.

"I'm going to wash your arm, ok bud?"

"Ok." Nolan responded, his tears begining to ease up.

Zuko squirted some soap onto Nolans arm and washed the burn. When he was done he patted it dry with a towel.

"There, it's going to be ok. It's only a mild burn, We just gotta put some medicine on it to help it heal."

Zuko scouped Nolan off the counter and carried him down the hall. Zuko asked one of the guards in the hallway to fetch some Aloe. Zuko then continued back to his office with Nolan.

Zuko put Nolan down and walked over to his desk to assess the damage done to the papers. They were pretty much ruined.

"Nolan, this is why we don't fire bend inside! I've been working on these papers for an hour and now I have to start all over again."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to catch them on fire."

Zuko sighed. "I know, but when you fire bend, things can catch on fire. That's why we practice our fire bending outside or in the training room." Zuko paused. "Why don't you go throw these in the trash for me?" Zuko handed Nolan the burned papers and sat down in his chair.

"Alright." Nolan took the papers to the trash can, on the other side of then room. At that moment, the guard Zuko had asked for Aloe walked in.

"Here is the Aloe you asked for, Sir." The guard approached Zuko, handing the bottle to him.

"Thank you." Zuko took the aloe from the guard, who bowed his head and then exited the room.

"Come here, Nolan." Zuko said, pushing his chair out from his desk.

Nolan walked over to Zuko.

"Let me see your arm."

Nolan held out his burned arm. Zuko rubbed some Aloe gel onto it.

"Here, that should help it heal and relieve any pain you have. If the burn starts to hurt at all later tonight or tomorow, then let your mom or I know and we can put some more of this Aloe gel on it ok?"

"Ok." Nolan started to climb into Zuko's lap. Zuko wrapped his arms around his son.

"How's it feeling right now?"

"Better. It really hurt when it happened, but the pain started to go away when you put cold water on it."

"Good," Zuko smiled, looking down at his son, who was sitting onhis lap, adjusting himself. Zuko was glad that the burn Nolan suffered was only minor, and hoped that it woudn't leave any sort of...scar. Zuko began thinking. How his own father, Ozai, could have burned him so badly without a care in the world, Zuko would never understand. Zuko couldn't imagine not attending to Nolan's burn right now, regardless of the mistake Nolan just made, let alone _inflicting _a burn upon him.

"Whatcha thinking?" Nolan had evidentally noticed that Zuko was getting lost in thought.

Zuko thought for a quick moment of how to respond and then gave Nolan a smile, "That I'm glad your'e ok, that the burn you got is only minor."

"I'm glad about that too!"

Zuko chuckled, "I'm sure you are. I have to get back to work now, though. I need to rewrite the papers that got destroyed, so why don't you go play?"

"Ok." Nolan hoped off Zuko's lap. "Sorry again about the papers."

"It's alright," Zuko assured his son. "I don't want to see you fire bending inside again though ok?" He added, with a stricter tone.

"Ok." Nolan turned and headed out of the room.


	11. AirShipTravel

Zuko was standing in the doorway of the Royal family's lounge room, in the air ship that they were currently on. He had just finished speaking with the captain and looked over to where his daughter, whom he had gotten in a fight with the night before, was sitting on a sofa, curled up in her mother's arms. Izumi didn't like flying and due to that fact, the family usually travelled by boat for long distance trips. However, it was just a day and a half ago that an urgent meeting in The Earth Kingdom was called, leaving no time for preparations to travel by ship.

Izumi noticed her dad staring at her and looked away. They hadn't spoken all morning.

Zuko walked over to where his wife and daughter were. He stopped and stood next to the couch. Izumi's back was turned to him.

"Izumi." He addressed her. She turned even further from him, hiding her face in the back of the couch.

"Izumi, look at me." He said, gently, kneeling down next to the arm of the couch.

Izumi stayed in place for a moment,but then turned to face him.

"If you need a break from flying, let me know and I will give the order to land ok? We left early enough that we have plenty time to make it to the Earth Kingdom."

Izumi stared at her dad. When he came over to talk to her, she thought he was going to say something about their fight from the night before, but he didn't mention it at all.

"Ok." She responded.

At that Zuko turned to head away, Izumi watching. After a few steps, she stopped him.

"Dad?"

He stopped and turned towards her.

"Yes?"

Izumi got off the couch and hugged him.

"I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Zuko wrapped his arms around her. "It's ok."

After a moment, he pulled out of the hug. "How are you feeling?" He asked. "You know, about being on the air ship?"

"I'm...ok." She said, sounding unsure of her response. "I drank some calming herbal tea before we left, which is helping a bit. I also packed some sleeping medicine to help if I need it, but I don't want to take it if I don't have to because I need to be awake for the meeting later."

"Well I'm glad the tea is helping. I'm sorry we couldn't travel by ship, there just wasn't enough time."

"I know."

"Here let's sit." Zuko said, heading back to the couch. He sat down near his wife, leaving enough room for Izumi to sit in between.

Izumi sat down between her parents. Zuko wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him, as to engulf her in safety. Izumi's mom placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Hey, since we will be staying with Uncle Iroh in Ba Sing Se, maybe sometime in the next few days we can go shopping in the city."

"I'd like that! Can we do that?"

"We sure can."

"I will stay with Uncle Iroh in his tea shop." Nolan, who had been watching everything from a lounge chair, next to the couch, piped in.

Zuko paused, really taking note of Nolan for the first time since boarding the air ship.

"Nolan, where did you get those Fire Flakes?" Zuko asked, referencing the bag of Flaming Fire Flake chips Nolan had in his hands.

"Definitely not from your suit case." He retorted.

"Nolan!" Zuko exclaimed.

"What? They're really good! And I won't eat all of them."

"You better not." Zuko said with a smile. "I might make you go shopping with your mom and sister otherwise."

"No!"' Nolan replied.

"Yes!" Zuko's eyes got wide with theatrical excitement.

"Well, I will just have to tell Uncle Iroh about that, I'm sure he will save me from

the shopping trip."

"Yeah, I bet he will." Zuko said, knowing that it was probably true. Uncle Iroh dotes over Izumi and Nolan. Which makes sense, they're basically grand kids to him.

At that moment, Izumi moved slightly from Zuko's arms "I brought a deck of cards along, do you guys want to play?" She asked, looking from Nolan to her dad. Her mom wasn't a big fan of cards.

"Sure." Nolan responded.

"Ok," Zuko chimed in, "But if I beat you," he pointed to Nolan, "then you have to buy me more fire flakes from one of those Fire Nation cuisine shops in Ba Sing Se."

"Deal."


	12. Izumi’sBreakup

"Izumi...can I come in?" Zuko asked, knocking on his daughter's room.

"Yeah." She replied through tears.

Zuko entered the room, his formal Fire Lord robes flowing behind him. It was late, but he had just gotten out of a big meeting a little while ago and hadn't yet had time to change. He found Izumi laying on her bed, in her pajamas, tears rolling down her cheeks. He headed over to her.

"Sweet heart, come here," he said softly, laying next to her on the bed, propping himself up on some of the giant pillows that were behind them.

Izumi scooted over to where Zuko was and he wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"He broke up with me." She said through the tears.

"I know. You're mother told me." He kissed the top of her head. "But it's going to be ok, Izumi."

"How do you know? What if I can't find a guy I like as much as I did him? I know lots of guys, Dad and none of them compare to him. He was able to deal with my emotions in a way no other guy I've been friends with or dated has ever been able to. What if I never find someone like him again? And Dad, I...I loved him, more than I have anyone outside our family. What if I don't ever love another guy as much as I did him?"

Zuko sighed. His wife and him had wondered if Izumi had loved her boyfriend, Akio. The two of them hadn't been dating for too long, but they had been friends for several years before they started dating. Which was probably making the break up harder on Izumi than it otherwise would be.

"Izumi," he said in a gentle tone, "there are tons of guys out there. Just because you haven't met someone, boyfriend, friend, or otherwise that you've loved more than Akio, doesn't mean you never will. And I'm sure you can find a guy that is just as good or even better than Akio. I know how amazing you thought he was, Izumi, but nobody is perfect, he has his flaws and for all you know, there could be someone out there that's better suited for you than Akio is."

"Ok." Izumi said, sniffling, "But," she continued, "dating isn't necessarily easy for me though. I mean with Akio, we were friends first, so I knew he liked me for me. But there are guys out there who are probably only interested in me because I'm the princess. It might be hard for me to find a guy who likes me for me."

"Well...that's true." As much as Zuko hated to admit it, it was true. "But that doesn't mean you can't or won't find a guy who likes you for you, Izumi. You could someday be friends first with some other guy and the two of you fall for each other and he turns out to be the one. Or you could meet a guy at some place random, who doesn't know you're the princess and is attracted to you anyways. Or you could meet a guy from The United Republic of Nations or something, where your status as the princess doesn't mean to him what it might to guys here in the Fire Nation. Or," he lowered his head towards her so that she turned her face to look directly at him again, "you could meet a guy right here in the Fire Nation, who knows you're the princess, but doesn't care and likes you for who you are anyways."

"You really think so?"

"Yes. Your mom loves me. She doesn't care that I'm the Fire Lord."

"That's true."

"Plus," Zuko said, scooting in closer to his daughter, "I will interrogate any boyfriend you have to make sure they have good intentions, and when I do, I can give a subtle warning that if they're only after you due to your status as the princess, that it would be in their best interest to turn back now, because I won't be happy about it."

"Daaad."

"What?" He chuckled.

"You're going to scare them off."

"No I'm not. I'm just going to let them know that they better be genuine and remind them that I can make their life difficult if they hurt my princess."

"I think that's called misuse of power." Izumi laughed a little.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't do anything too awful. Just enough that they learn their lesson."

Izumi smiled. Zuko leaned his head down and kissed the top of her head.

"You should get some sleep."

"Ok." Izumi said. Pulling out of the embrace Zuko had her in. "Love you."

"I love you to." He replied.


	13. FatherDaughterDance

"Hey, watch it!"

A ten year old Izumi, with a plate of refreshments and a cup of lemonade in her hand, had been making her way across the dance floor, at a father daughter dance her school was having. She was heading towards one of the seating areas, to the small round table Zuko was sitting at, when she tripped, causing the lemonade she had to fly out of its cup and onto a man standing near the table.

"Sorry!" Izumi exclaimed, after the man shouted at her.

"Look what you did! You got lemonade on my shirt. This is going to stain!" The man said, looking down at the white shirt he had on underneath his dress robe.

"I'm sorry. I tripped and the lemonade flew out of my hand."

"Well why don't you be more careful and watch where you're walking." He snapped.

Zuko, who was sitting less than a foot behind the man, noticed the unnecessary, outburst. Izumi wasn't wearing her crown tonight and it seems that the man didn't know she was the princess, as Zuko doubted the man would go off on her if he knew. Therefore Zuko, who as fire lord, was more readily recognized by his people and who was wearing his crown tonight, got up from his chair and headed to Izumi's side.

"Is there a problem here?" Zuko asked the man, while putting his arm around Izumi.

The man, froze for a moment, recognizing Zuko as fire lord, and by default, who Izumi was. He quickly bowed.

"Fire Lord Zuko, no there isn't a problem. I didn't realize this was your daughter. I'm sorry, Sir."

"I think the princess is the one you should be apologizing to. And princess or not, you really shouldn't be yelling at a ten year old because they tripped and spilled lemonade on you."

"Yes, Sir. And my apologies princess."

Izumi wasn't really sure how to respond.

"Thank you." She said.

The man then quickly got up, bowed his head one more time towards Izumi, and left.

Zuko turned towards Izumi. "You ok, there sweet heart?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Ok, don't worry about that guy. He is just mean."

"Yeah...I feel sorry for who ever's dad he is."

"So do I. Hopefully he is kinder to his own daughter. Though I wouldn't be too sure that he is..."

"Yeah." Izumi agreed. "Dad! You got lemonade on you to." She said, noticing there was a spot of lemonade on Zuko's robes. Zuko was already aware of this fact.

"I know. I'm going to go to the bathroom to see if I can wash it out. Why don't you go inform one of the staff members of the lemonade spill and pick this stuff up," he motioned to some of the refreshments that had fallen off of Izumi's plate and onto the floor.

"Ok." She responded.

Zuko headed off to the bathroom to see if he could get the lemonade out with a wet paper towel, before it stained his red robes. When he came out, still finishing drying his robe with his fire bending heated hands, he found the mess on the floor gone, and Izumi at their table, enjoying a new plate of snacks.

Zuko sat down in a chair beside her.

"Sorry, about getting lemonade on you." Izumi said.

Zuko smiled at his daughter. "It's ok, Princess." He told her, and it really was. It was an accident. And he managed to get the lemonade out of his robes before it stained, but even if that hadn't been the case, he was glad he was at the dance with her, regardless of if his robe got stained.

"Do you want to dance some more?" She asked.

"Sure," he responded, standing up, "Come on." He held out his hand for her to take.

Izumi grabbed his hand and they walked out onto the dance floor. He put his free hand around her waist and she put hers around his back. They began to dance gently from side to side. After a minute, Zuko spun her around, looking down at her smile as he did. She seemed happy and Zuko was glad for that. The two of them had been going to these father daughter dances since Izumi was little, and he planned to keep going to them for as long as she wanted him to.

"I want to go play some games in a little bit." Izumi said, looking up at him.

The hallway and the outdoors area had various games that the girls could play to win prizes. Izumi usually always left the dance with her arms full of toys and stuffed animals that she had won.

"Ok." He said, pulling her close to him for a hug and then spinning her around again.


	14. DressRobes

"Dad! Dad, I can't find my dress robes."

Nolan had just entered his parent's room. He had been looking for his dress robes, which he needed for a formal dinner the family was going to he having tonight with various council members, ect.

"What do you mean you can't find them?" Zuko asked

"I mean I can't find them. I had them two weeks ago for that meeting Izumi and I attended with you. And then I put them in a laundry pile in my room, which I later that week delivered to the laundry room. Then the servants gave me back my laundry, but my formal robes aren't there. I checked the clothes piled at the bottom of my closet, but I didn't see them there either. So I'm guessing they haven't been washed yet."

_Clothes piled at the bottom of the closet. That sounds like Nolan, _Zuko thought. Nolan's closet wasn't exactly the most organized.

"Well did you inform the servants that you needed those robes washed by tonight?"

"No, I didn't think of it. I just placed them in the laundry room with the rest of my laundry."

Zuko sighed. "Nolan, you gotta keep track of these things. If you know you are going to be needing your dress robes then you need to make sure that they are washed and ready. And that you know where they are."

"Alright...sorry." Nolan apologized. "So what do I do now?"

Zuko sighed again. "Lets go see if I have something in the closet of old clothes."

Zuko went down the hall to one of the unused bedrooms and Nolan followed. When they arrived to the room, they stepped inside a walk in closet, filled with random garments that were in good shape, but no longer fit the members of the family they once belonged to. Nolan recognized a few clothes that had been his when he was little and others that had been Izumi's. Zuko began looking around, near the back of the closet where the grown up clothes were, most of which Nolan didn't recognize.

"Here," Zuko pulled out a long, red with gold trim, formal robe outfit. "Try this on. It was mine back when I first became fire lord." Zuko handed Nolan the garment, who took it into the bedroom to try on.

Zuko sat down on a hassock, inside the closet and waited for Nolan to return. While Zuko waited, he thought about how Nolan seemed so much...younger than he himself was at that age. Perhaps it was because Nolan was much more sheltered, so to say, than he had been. Nolan had two parents who both loved him, plus a sister he actually gets along with. He wasn't abused. He never had to fend for himself growing up. He wasn't kicked out into the world at 13. Not to mention, he didn't become the monarch of an entire nation at 16. The more Zuko thought about his and Nolan's different experiences growing up, the more it made sense that Nolan didn't seem as old as Zuko did as a teenager. Though Zuko supposed there was also the possibility that maybe he didn't realize just how young he actually was back then.

"It fits." Nolan said, as he appeared in the closet door way to show his dad.

"Hey that actually looks pretty good on you. And you know, you can actually keep it if you want. It obviously hasn't fit me in years."

"Ok, cool. "Nolan smiled.

"Now," Zuko leaned forward towards Nolan, "what would you have done if I hadn't had that set of robes?"

"Well..." Nolan wondered, "I guess I would have just had to wear something else to the dinner tonight, something semi-formal."

"You would have been underdressed, compared to everyone else." Zuko stated.

"I know. It's unlikely anyone would have said something to me about it though, I mean, I am the prince."

"Well, I think as Fire Lord, I could have said something to you." Zuko chuckled.

"Yeah, what are you going to do, not allow me to the dinner?"

"Maybe. I mean I could do that."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, you think so?"

"Yes."

Zuko quickly reached down and grabbed a square shaped, decorative pillow that was being stored at the bottom of the closet. He thew it at Nolan.

"Hey!" Nolan exclaimed, as the pillow hit him. He grabbed it off the floor and threw it back at his dad. Zuko quickly grabbed it, as Nolan grabbed a second pillow and threw it. Pretty soon they were throwing pillows at each other. Nolan then began to hit Zuko with one of the pillows.

"Ok. Alright. Stop!" Zuko said, as he was being smacked with a pillow.

Nolan stopped, still smiling from the escapade. He stood still for a moment, and then threw the pillow at Zuko, who managed to dodge it.

"Ok. Ok. Now go change out of those dress robes until it's time for the dinner."

"Alright." Nolan said, exiting the closet. Zuko leaned down and put the pillows back in order, smiling to himself. Zuko enjoyed rough housing with his son and having fun with him. And he was glad his son was able to be a normal teenager and have fun with him.


	15. BrokenFigurine

Zuko was sitting on his bed, reading while a five year old Izumi wandered around his room, when he suddenly heard something crash by his dresser. He quickly looked up to find one of his dragon figurines that had been on the dresser, now shattered on the floor.

"I'm sorry! I dropped it and it broke."

Zuko got up from the bed and headed towards Izumi. He sighed, "It's ok sweet heart, you didn't mean to." He crouched down by his daughter, meeting her at eye level. "These figurines are fragile though, so you shouldn't be picking them up. It's ok to look at them, but leave them on my dresser, ok?"

"Ok." Izumi replied through tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. "I liked that one!" She told him.

Zuko picked her up. "Well, we might be able to find a new one at the shop it came from. And if not maybe we can find a similar one." In all honesty, Zuko liked that figurine too and was hoping himself to find a replacement for it.

"Ok." Izumi began wiping the tears from her eyes. "Can we go look for a new one tomorrow?"

"Well, I'm busy tomorrow, but we can go this weekend."

"Alright." Izumi agreed, laying her head on his shoulder. She eyed the book on his bed.

"Daddy, will you read me a story?"

"Sure, but first I gotta clean up the broken figurine pieces. Why don't you go find a book for me to read to you and I will meet you in your room?" Zuko placed her back down on the floor, away from the broken figurine.

"Ok!" Izumi exclaimed, as she turned and ran out of his room to find a book.


	16. No Hitting

"I hate you!"

A seven year old Nolan's fist made contact with Zuko's shoulder, as he exclaimed to Zuko that he hated him. Zuko can't say that the punch hurt terribly, but he definitely felt it.

Immideatley after punching his dad, Nolan turned around and ran out of the room.

"Nolan!" Zuko stood up from the couch he had been sitting on and shouted after him, but to no avail. Nolan was now out of the living quarters and out of sight. Zuko persisted after him, passing a guard stationed in the entrance to the living quarters.

"Prince Nolan ran outside, Sir." The guard informed him.

"Thank you." Zuko responded.

Zuko headed outside, as another guard quietly pointed around the back of the palace, signaling to Zuko that Nolan went in that direction.

"Nolan! Nolan!" Zuko shouted as he searched for Nolan. He quickly realized though that Nolan wasn't going to appear on his own.

As Zuko began looking around, Nolan suddenly darted out from behind a flower bush and started running around the other side of the palace.

"Nolan! Nolan Stop!" Zuko ran after him. As he rounded the corner after Nolan, he saw Nolan go into hiding behind a bush.

"Nolan." Zuko crossed his arms as he gazed down at his son, who was crouching behind the bush.

Nolan looked up at his dad, who was standing over him. "Are you going to hit me back?"

"What?" Zuko asked, more out of surprise, then confusion.

"I hit you, so are you going to hit me back?"

Zuko sat down, legs crossed, on the grass, in front of his son who looked terrified. "No. I'm not going to hit you." Zuko assured him.

Nolan, relaxing a bit, also sat himself down on the grass.

"It's not ok that you hit me though." Zuko continued

"I'm sorry. I was mad. You said you would take me for a ride on Druk tomorow." Nolan explained, through tears.

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. I really am, but some stuff came up and I have to have a meeting tomorrow, so I won't have time to go for a ride on Druk. But I will try to take you for a ride this weekend ok? But, Nolan, it doesn't matter that you were mad. We don't hit people just because we are mad at them. You wouldn't like it if someone hit you because they were mad, would you?"

"No." Nolan shook his head.

"Exactly. Other people aren't going to like that either. Plus you could injure someone."

Nolan nodded his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Now come here." Zuko held his arms out for Nolan.

Nolan got up and crawled into Zuko's lap. Zuko wrapped his arms around his son.

"So you'll take me for a ride on Druk this weekend?" Nolan asked, while wiping his tears away.

"As long as nothing else comes up that stops me, yes."

"Ok." Nolan snuggled closer into Zuko.

"Hey," Zuko said, "We have a little bit before you have to get ready to leave for your fire bending lessons. You want to see what shapes we can find in the clouds?" Zuko turned Nolan around so he could look up and face the sky.

"Sure." Nolan replied happily.

"Alright come on." Zuko lifted Nolan off his lap and they both laid down in the grass to gaze at the clouds.


End file.
